CalgaryLiberal

First of all,  I couldn’t spot Daveberta for the life of me. He just wasn’t there, I think. Spent a good hour on Saturday and around thirty minutes on Friday trying to find him to no avail–I think he ducked out early or something. Shame he’s trying to comment on something he barely attended.

Shame, really. His comments on “sleepy” participants are completely off base–at one point one of these supposedly meek elderly stalwarts of the party was waving around his cane in one of the policy workshops that was on taxation. Some people were actually afraid he’d start hitting people he was so worked up into a frenzy, and it wasn’t only him that were filled with energy. The old guy also yelled at the top of his lungs calling everyone “bastards” and slow.

At one of the policy workshops I attended (the one for government) the entire room was fierce in its debates on numerous issues that had to deal with governance and, as already spoken about in the media, the cooperation by the Liberals with other parties. At one point in the workshop a top ALP official threatened to resign if the policy was put through. People were standing on their feet, being explosive, and debating furiously with one another–and Dave seems to have completely missed this. Which is sad, seeing that a lot of people read his blog and expect some form of neutrality from him. Oh well. I know it was intense and I know a lot of people fought long and hard on those policies.

It definitely wasn’t quiet and definitely not sleepy. I only got 8 hours of sleep the entire weekend (I was there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) and for most of the sessions.

Little Davie also points out that some 200 high schoolers went to a Speak Out event just next door to the Convention. They didn’t pay $325 to attend their convention. Also, the PCs, in comparison, paid less that those Liberals in that room and only had about 15-20 more at their policy conference a while back. Dave’s comments also fly in the face of what I wrote just an hour after Saturday’s festivities. Jeeze, I’m perplexed to where he had stuck his head the entire time (if he was even there).

Secondly, the policies came from across the spectrum. This is expect from a centrist party. In the plenary there was actually a resolution to completely remove the 10% income tax collected by the province, and shortly after that a resolution calling for the introduction of a progressive income tax system (the first one failed and the second one succeeded, by the way). Another point on this centrist positioning in the voted on platforms is the complete denunciation of any introduction of PST, which the NDP have been calling for the last two decades for.

There was a call for more stringent consumer protections to ban predatory fixed-rate contracts for utilities, the creation of an independent child advocate, making parliament more accountable financially to the legislature and the people, and so much more. The debates, as pointed out earlier, was fierce and the Alberta Liberal Party has, judging from the debates and conflicts, found its soul and comfort zone.

We’ve found our soul. And now we just need to communicate it, which is where Warren Kinsella comes in with his expert advice. The Edmonton Journal also noted his sage advice.

Thirdly, I think Dr. Swann has been abducted by aliens and replaced by some other creature. Seriously. The leader speech on Saturday night had me, and my table, absolutely shocked in its clarity and strength, its solid pace and thunderous statements. He has found his stride, people. He has found his voice.

Just watch. He’s been coached, trained, and has been surrounded by a high quality crew that has probably grilled his professorial tones into that of, well, a leader.

I’ll be blunt on this: I voted for Taylor in 2008′s leadership race. I did it because I saw someone who was tough, fierce, and a vocal voice for the party. There was one thing, though, that has troubled me since, though. Taylor never called me, never did any Get Out The Vote or membership drives, and never made those effort. Swann’s team phoned me and he spoke to me for 25 minutes. Twenty-five minutes. And those 15 minutes weren’t dodging the issues: I hit him hard on changing the name of the party (I’m against it), abortion, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the need to create a team to run an election, and the status of the weak finances of the party (the ALP was $300k in debt in early 2009). That earned him the second place on my ballot and, come to think of it, it should have warranted him first.

Now I see how and why so many people placed their trust in him. Now I’m fully willing to put my chips on Swann and roll the die. He is a hard worker, a fighter, and ferociously intelligent. It just took him a year to find his voice. And now that he has it is all up from here on in.

With the debt being all but shut down (it has been cut by 85% since 2008), the monthly donation program shooting fund-raising through the roof, Tony Sansotta’s impeccable/stalwart leadership as president, and the new logos/branding (they look good), we’re on the right track to beat the living daylights out of the Progressive Conservatives.

Fourthly, one thing that a lot of people haven’t seen yet is the 12 Clean Government Initiative points. The 12-point plan to, y’know, clear up and clean out government: sort of like getting an alcoholic of 40+ years on a plan to end his addiction, so has the ALP moved to end the mismanagement of repeated Conservative binges in Alberta. Read more here (warning: PDF). Read up on it. Also, read up on Calgary Grit’s view on it.

I’ll be writing a bit more about the convention over the next few days. I have a picture of myself that I’ll also be putting up that has Swann and I together with (and I’ll be sure to upload this too) a note on the back saying “Vincent! Great to have you on our side! -David”: this being after I’d cleaned out some clocks on the policy convention floor. I’m 19 years old, kicking butt and taking names, people, and the ALP is on the way up, fighting and crashing into the minds of Albertans.

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